Twenty20 surprise

So, the Indian cricket selectors chose the list of 30 probables and the announcement was made yesterday evening.

They indeed have sprung a surprise by not sticking to the regular ODI players for this format.Though this is more logical,we never expected the board to call cat a cat,looking at their past history.

The big three Sachin,Dravid and Ganguly aren't interested in this format and opted for a break.Infact, these players opting themselves out would have eased the job of the selectors.So,we would have a young team with quite a few rookie players,some of whom,would have never made it to the Indian team for the ODIs or Tests.Thats' a good begining:)

This would also mean a new Captain for the Twenty20 side for the worldcup.With the current indian players without any Twenty20 experience, it would have been ideal to pick players like Dinesh Mongia and murli kathik,who have a quite a good competitive Twenty20 experience from the English counties.As usual with the BCCI, we do not understand the reason for their omission.

It is very difficult to predict how well this team would perform in the championships, but with people like Yuvraj,Dhoni and karthik in the squad,we can hope for some good performances.

The selectors do have their task cut out when they meet again on August 7 to announce the final 15 for the worldcup.We do not have any info about the BCCI plans for the selected 30 in the interim.

We hope they organise a few competitive matches for the selected 30(apart from the ODI regulars, who are on tour),so that they gain atleast a little experience.

Probables for the 20-20 Worldcup

The Indian cricket selectors meet in Mumbai on Saturday to pick 30 probables for the Twenty20 World Cup to be played in South Africa in September.

BCCI has always been reluctant to accept the 20-20 format and hence have done very little so far to promote it in India.The 20-20 world cup was the reason for them to conduct a domestic tournament some time back.

It is very interesting to see how they approach selection for the 20-20 format.Going by their past records, they are likely to pick players from the existing ODI pool.But, there is nothing wrong to hope for a surprise from them.

If they have a good understanding of the game and the requirements for the 20-20 format, they would certainly surprise us;else :)

The other major teams have been playing quite a few 20-20s for the last two years and hence had opportunities to try out newer/specialist players who would suit this format.So, most of them have a data to look back and analyze when they chose their 20-20 world cup teams. But,India have played only a handful of 20-20s and to add did not try anything different.So, we do not know who fits the bill.This makes the task very tough for the selectors in picking the team.

Can we expect surprises?..We would know at the end of the day

Honor for the carribean king

For the past two decades,there was one king who ruled the hearts of cricket lovers.Style,class,determination and quality are the other names of Brian charles Lara.This carribean King entertained the cricket fans all across the world for so long (17 Years).The king chose the worldcup at home to call it a day and put the fans into a lifetime shock.For many of his Fans,there is no cricket without LARA.

There is an occasion planned for Monday night at London when Brian Lara, the most recent in the long lineage of great West Indian batsmen, is honoured. Lara has a career filled with a phenomenal list of records, unthinkable for his contemporaries.

Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Courtney Walsh and Michael Vaughan are expected to attend.

India wins a cricket ODI series abroad!

I started my blog today and was wondering what to start with.India won the (cricket) ODI series against southAfrica at Belfast, Northern Ireland.This was India's first one-day series triumph outside the subcontinent since their memorable Natwest Series win in 2002.These sort of things dont happen in indian cricket so often.so, lemme start with this.here we go..

Interestingly,there isn't much hoopla around this news.Pre-worldcup, a similar result would have made the media and the people simply raving about this.But,things are different now.Post-worldcup, I do not see the same kind of intense following to cricket from Indian public. A good majority of the intense followers from my office least cared about this series.I understand that this is just a sample of the situation around the country.

I guess such a break is indeed welcome for both the cricket loving indian public and our cricketers. This should bring them back to level ground and take their tasks more seriously.

When they entertain people with good cricket and in a consistent basis, our people would surely give them the due incentives.